I think Superman wins, hands down, because ironically enough, Marvel and DC do a shift in 2013: DC goes for a real four-color superhero with Kal-El, while Thor and Iron Man get the Nolanite "dark and gritty" treatment. And I think that will backfire, to great effect for MOS, and disappointing numbers for IM and Thor.

Granted, Zack Snyder isn't Steven Spielberg; he's definitely dropped the ball on some great potential several times. But so has Spielberg --- *many* times. There's one thing that's a guarantee for Snyder: he is extremely faithful to the source material of whatever comic/graphic novel he's adapting, so it's a given that his Superman will be very authentic to the books --- far more so than Bryan Singer's crap, and even the Donner films, which quickly devolved into Joel Schumacher-like camp over several installments.

Avengers was lightning in a bottle, and the bulk of its success draws from the team aspect. That aspect is, of course, lacking in the solo films; and there's already reports that Feige and the filmmakers are trying to steer away from Avenger references to let IM and Thor stand on their own. This is *not* a particularly intelligent strategy, trying to distance yourself from a box-office gold mine.

I'll be glad to reassess my opinion once we start seeing trailers for IM, Thor and MOS; but for now, everything I've seen puts MOS miles ahead of the competition in 2013.

This goes contrary to all existing evidence. The Man of Steel footage as yet revealed is about as "Nolan-ish" as a movie involving a flying solar powered alien farm boy can possibly get, far from being "four color." Meanwhile, there's no reason yet to believe that either IM3 or Thor 2 goes for a dark, gritty tone contrary to prior pattern ( note that IM opened with him being imprisoned by guerillas in the mountains, bad things happening to Stark is not new ).

I think Superman wins, hands down, because ironically enough, Marvel and DC do a shift in 2013: DC goes for a real four-color superhero with Kal-El, while Thor and Iron Man get the Nolanite "dark and gritty" treatment. And I think that will backfire, to great effect for MOS, and disappointing numbers for IM and Thor.

Granted, Zack Snyder isn't Steven Spielberg; he's definitely dropped the ball on some great potential several times. But so has Spielberg --- *many* times. There's one thing that's a guarantee for Snyder: he is extremely faithful to the source material of whatever comic/graphic novel he's adapting, so it's a given that his Superman will be very authentic to the books --- far more so than Bryan Singer's crap, and even the Donner films, which quickly devolved into Joel Schumacher-like camp over several installments.

Avengers was lightning in a bottle, and the bulk of its success draws from the team aspect. That aspect is, of course, lacking in the solo films; and there's already reports that Feige and the filmmakers are trying to steer away from Avenger references to let IM and Thor stand on their own. This is *not* a particularly intelligent strategy, trying to distance yourself from a box-office gold mine.

I'll be glad to reassess my opinion once we start seeing trailers for IM, Thor and MOS; but for now, everything I've seen puts MOS miles ahead of the competition in 2013.

While I agree that MoS will come in first, I haven't seen anything from IM3 or TDW to suggest that they'll be in the "Nolanite" style.

Iron Man III because it's the first big continuation of the biggest superhero film of all time, not to mention it stars RDJ

Thor II second because it continues previously mentioned saga, riding the Avengers train

Superman third because it will split between people who are weary after Superman Returns and people excited to see a fresh attempt at a Superman film

Wolverine last because of a similar situation to Superman Returns, only insert X-Men Origins Wolverine, and that was epically TERRIBLE, pissed a lot of Marvel fans off and will scare people away from The Wolverine. It will still do well because it's Hugh Jackman and Wolverine, but still below the other three.

This goes contrary to all existing evidence. The Man of Steel footage as yet revealed is about as "Nolan-ish" as a movie involving a flying solar powered alien farm boy can possibly get, far from being "four color." Meanwhile, there's no reason yet to believe that either IM3 or Thor 2 goes for a dark, gritty tone contrary to prior pattern ( note that IM opened with him being imprisoned by guerillas in the mountains, bad things happening to Stark is not new ).

The MOS reel shown at SDCC is as far from "Nolan-ish" as you can get --- and as far from "Snyder-ish" as you can get. In fact, it looked more like something Terrence Malick might direct: lofty and epic and pensive, philosophical and spiritual.

And the reports on both IM3 and TDW indicate that they're going for darker, more serious tones this time around. Doubtful that they'll be shooting for Oscars, of course, but they definitely seem to want to turn up the drama on these two movies.

IM3 hands down. The Avengers was the biggest movie of 2012 and the two things everyone remembered were Ruffalo's Banner and Downeys Stark. Iron Man will be the first chance anyone can get to get another dose of Tony Stark. It has it's biggest villain in it and it's probably going to get the best marketing.

Man of Steel is going to suffer from Superman Returns and the general disappointment from that. Superman is a popular superhero but he's not the best in the publics eyes anymore. Plus the movie as far as I can tell has a bearded Clark Kent hitchhiking and is shot with a prevalence of grey (from what we've seen so far). Also why is this not Nolanesk, when it's marketed as "from the producer of the Dark Knight Trilogy"?

The Wolverine, X-Men fans aren't expecting much anymore as X3 and Wolverine pretty much killed the franchise. XCF is good, but look at the Days of the Future Past board, it hasn't generated the hype to get it back to where it was in the early 2000s. However Wolverine and Hugh Jackman are still bigger names than Thor.

The Wolverine, X-Men fans aren't expecting much anymore as X3 and Wolverine pretty much killed the franchise. XCF is good, but look at the Days of the Future Past board, it hasn't generated the hype to get it back to where it was in the early 2000s. However Wolverine and Hugh Jackman are still bigger names than Thor.

Thor won't do badly, but it won't dominate at the box office.

Fox is producing Wolverine as a stand alone film with no real connection to the X-men continuity they built. That just shows how much faith they have in this film in my opinion.

Thor is the underdog here. But if they can channel some of that LOTR/Harry Potter vibe than Thor could top Superman and Wolverine.

Actually Hemsworth a bigger box office draw than Jackman nowdays, plus THOR made more than every X-Men film except X3.

He's been top 10 in IMDB's "Star Meter" since TA came out, it's safe to say that T:TDW is gonna be alot bigger than THOR..

Agreed.
And I think Rush is going to continue to add to Hem's star meter, along with (maybe) Red Dawn. I wholeheartedly believe that TDW will garner bigger b.o. than IM3; but it still remains to be seen how Thor battles it out against Supes. MOS is entirely hit or miss, in Snyder's hands --- he's either got certified greatness on his hands here, or a jumbled mess like Sucker Punch. If it's the latter, Thor wins 2013.

I think IM3 is going to win the Box office and win over the critics as well. Coming off avengers, RDJ will be in top form again, add Kingsley, Pearce, Hall, Paltrow, Cheadle..its a pretty stellar cast, and Shane Black is going to knock this thing out of the park. IM3 has the most going for it IMO.

MOS should be good but Snyder has been known to be pretty hit or miss with his stuff. The supporting cast is great but i worry if Cavill can truly rock it like Reeve did. I've only seen him in 2 movies, Immortals and Cold Light of Day..Immortals was forgettable and the latter was just pure trash. We'll see.

Oh I'm sorry it's only one of the greatest movie soundtracks to date even after 30+ years. Though you don't care about it. The theme does capture an audience.

On the flip side I could understand if they're betting on starting fresh. But doing so with Zod instead of making someone in his very huge rogue gallery valid doesn't win over this starting fresh theory.

I still have more hopes for it than Wolverine though. So if it's still a great film, we all win.

I'm really not interested in this Wolverine goes to Japan story. Was it any good in the comics? I haven't read it. I mean, I love Japan as a country and their history, but this specific story just doesn't interest me at all so far.

Agreed.
And I think Rush is going to continue to add to Hem's star meter, along with (maybe) Red Dawn. I wholeheartedly believe that TDW will garner bigger b.o. than IM3; but it still remains to be seen how Thor battles it out against Supes. MOS is entirely hit or miss, in Snyder's hands --- he's either got certified greatness on his hands here, or a jumbled mess like Sucker Punch. If it's the latter, Thor wins 2013.

Yeah I don't know why everyone is underestimating Thor 2, it sure has ALOT more going for it than the original. It's like people are purposefully ignoring Chris' increasing popularilty and appearance in over 4 films in 2012 alone.

That being said I still don't think Thor 2 will gross more than IM3, I mean I would like for that to happen but I don't see how.